Catholics the world over on Friday heeded Pope Leo XIV's call for a day of prayer and fasting for peace in Gaza, Ukraine and other areas of conflict around the globe.
Churches in Italy and across five continents, organizations and associations such as the Community of Sant'Egidio, the ACLI, Pax Christi, Communion and Liberation, Catholic Action, but above all dioceses in conflict zones such as the Holy Family in Gaza, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and the Custody of the Holy Land: the Catholic world unanimously joined Pope Leo's call for a day of fasting and prayer for peace in the Holy Land and Ukraine and in all other places of conflict.
"Today we celebrate the memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary Queen, also invoked as the Queen of Peace," Leo tweeted on X.
"Let us live this day in fasting and prayer, beseeching the Lord for the gift of peace.
Let us pray that hearts may be freed from hatred, that the logic of division and retaliation may be abandoned, and that a vision of unity inspired by the common good may prevail." In another message to the Protestant world gathered for an important ecumenical meeting in Stockholm, Leo extended his hand: "What unites us is greater than what divides us," and reiterates: "Our world bears the deep scars of conflict, inequality, environmental degradation, and a growing sense of spiritual disconnection." Amid these challenges, "Christians are called to become architects of reconciliation, to face division with courage, to bring healing where there have been wounds." But Leo XIV's voice was not the only one calling for an end to hostilities.
